I have recently purchased a second-hand Giant Rapid 2. Its components work well except for one thing: the spring within the front derailleur broke.
The bicycle is a nine-speed in terms of the rear set of gears, and a triple speed in terms of the front set of gears. The front derailleur is branded as a Shimano "9S Triple", and the manual lists it as a Shimano "R-453". The rear derailleur is a Shimano "Tiagra", and the rear cassette is a SRAM "PG 950 11x26 9-speed" if these matter.
The front derailleur appears to be a brazed on and a cable pull down style.
I cannot find this particular model of component anywhere online. What front derailleur would be a suitable replacement? Can I use a triple front derailleur designed for a ten speed drivetrain instead? That seems to be all I can find available new.
Note that I wouldn't want to spend too much more than $30-$50.
The front derailleur is not as critical as the rear is when it comes to 9, 10 or 11 speed cassettes. But you do have a triple in which case I would get a Sora FD-R3030, it's a 9 speed derailleur so that takes some of the guesswork out of the equation.
However since you have a braze on derailleur you have to make sure that the Deore is able to work due to the chainring size on your bike may not be compatible with that derailleur, we would need teeth count of both the outer and inner gear to make that determination. I think I recall that the Shimano Sora I mentioned will work with 50 to 20 teeth, but I don't foresee that being an issue but you need to count your teeth just to make sure.
Also is your derailleur a top of bottom pull, the pics are not real clear but looks like a bottom pull to me, if so the Sora is good to go.
The Sora is inexpensive costing only around $31 on Amazon.
